Teen Treatment
Most people—adults and teens alike—find the thought of cancer treatment frightening. Some people think the treatment is scarier than the disease itself.
So it’s pretty normal to feel apprehensive, especially when you are being poked and prodded and scanned and people are talking about doing things to you that you don’t really understand.
One thing you should know is that cancer treatment is not as bad as it used to be. The treatments themselves are improving all the time, and so are the strategies and drugs to help minimize side effects.
The most obvious side effect of chemotherapy is hair loss. At first, the thought of going around with a bald head might be pretty upsetting, and you way want to read some suggestions for coping with being bald.
Depending on the kind of cancer you have and how far it has progressed, your doctors may recommend one or more of the following types of treatment: chemotherapy, radiation therapy, surgery, or a stem cell or bone marrow transplant.
Want to learn more? Here are some links to information about treatment for various types of cancer. Some of these sources are written for teens, some are written for adults. (The ones for teens are first on each list.)
Also, don’t forget that this is your disease, and the more you know the better you are likely to feel about what is happening. On the other hand, if you are feeling overloaded right now, this may not be the best time to read up on cancer. Choose the right time.
Brain tumors
Teens Living with Cancer web site
National Cancer Institute PDQ summary
American Cancer Society web site
Ewing’s sarcoma
Teens Living with Cancer web site
National Cancer Institute PDQ summary
Germ cell tumors
Teens Living with Cancer web site
National Cancer Institute PDQ summary
Leukemia
Teens Living with Cancer web site
National Cancer Institute PDQ summary: ALL
National Cancer Institute PDQ summary: AML
American Cancer Society web site
Lymphoma
Teens Living with Cancer web site
National Cancer Institute PDQ summary: Childhood Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma
American Cancer Society web site: Childhood Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma
National Cancer Institute PDQ summary: Childhood Hodgkin’s Lymphoma
Sarcoma
Teens Living with Cancer web site: osteosarcoma
National Cancer Institute PDQ summary: osteosarcoma
National Cancer Institute PDQ summary: soft tissue sarcoma
Teens Living with Cancer web site: rhabdomyosarcoma
National Cancer Institute PDQ summary: rhabdomyosarcoma